This application requests funds to establish a Summer Research Experiences Program for Undergraduates at Vanderbilt University. The program will be trans-institutional with investigators from the School of Medicine and from the College of Arts and Science participating. Twenty-eight investigators that have active research programs involving quantitative studies on biological systems and having an interest in providing a research experience for undergraduate students have been chosen as preceptors. The breadth of research interests of this group ensures that there will be a wealth of summer research opportunities for undergraduate students from the quantitative and physical sciences to participate in contemporary biomedical research projects. Students will be recruited nationally through the established office of Biomedical Research, Education, and Training (BRET). Ten participants will be selected from the applicant pool by the Program Director and the advisory committee composed of three established investigators all of whom have a long history of student training. Participants will carry out research projects in the laboratory of one of the mentors for a ten-week period. A Summer Seminar Series will be required in which weekly seminars in contemporary areas of biomedical research are preceded by a lecture that introduces the research topic and the background to the area. Students will enroll in a specialized class that meets two days per week that provides instruction on ancillary skills and an introduction to biochemistry and molecular biology. The program director will have biweekly meetings with the participants in order to keep track of research progress and to provide a forum for discussion of program effectiveness and career opportunities. Mentors from this Program, who themselves have made a transition from the quantitative sciences to research in the biomedical sciences, will attend these meetings to provide a description of their career paths. Near the end of the ten-week period, students will submit an abstract describing their projects and present their findings to the other participants and the Program mentors. Participants will be asked to annually update their career paths on a Program web site so that long-term impact of this training experience can be evaluated.
| Meyn, Susan M; Seda, Christina; Campbell, Muriel et al. (2006) The biochemical effect of Ser167 phosphorylation on Chlamydomonas reinhardtii centrin. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 342:342-8 |
